Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Upland Citori 16 gauge for pheasants ?

It isn't about "need," it is about what you want, and what works best. #5 shot is more lethal at all ranges than #6 shot, and you aren't going to form a pattern out of any more pellets than comes out of the muzzle in the first place.

I love when people want to try to reinvent the wheel, does crack me up.

Pretty crystal clear that 30" barrels on break action guns is what the average would be in the shotgun sports world. If you took out skeet in the equation would probably end up being 32".

Now your body size will dictate what is best for you. if you are 5'2" you might want to go a little shorter and if you are 6'plus you may want to go a little longer. 30" barrels work very well in the field. I have never found or heard anyone of any experiance say that 30" barrels hurt them in the field.

As to a sight plane it isn't anything new. Sure back in the day skeet shooters cleaned plenty of 100 straights with short barrels. But as we have learned over time short barrels are fast to start and stop. All which can cause a lot of issues in the shotgun world. Imagine what those guys and gals could have done with longer barrels?

I can help you with that. For flushing game, a shorter barrel is better to the extent that it makes the gun faster. My most-used pheasant guns all have 26 inch or shorter barrels. My Belgian A-5's are actually 25-1/2 inch barrels; my Benelli M2 is a 24 inch. In Illinois, it is pheasants. For grouse hunting in the timber, some feel the shorter the better . . . the same for quail.

It is all personal preference. While some folks like to obsess over an inch or two of barrel length, getting the muzzle of a gun an inch or two closer to a pheasant doesn't at all matter as far as I'm concerned. To some, it obviously does.

If you add 4 inches of receiver for a 26 in. pump or an autoloader vs. a O/U, you end up with a 30 inch sighting plane, even though the only thing a "sighting plane" does is move the bead at the muzzle a bit farther away from you. If you add a couple of inches to your buttstock, you get the same effect, as the sighting plane begins with your eyes, not with the shotgun, and if you're staring at the barrel instead of your target, you might have other issues.

Jeez you guys make a pleasant afternoon afield complicated.

Hey Battue You own one of the FINEST upland guns ever made. Winchester Mod.59 its fast no matter what the barrel length,Can't believe you didn"t mention it.

The 16 Browning with 24 inch barrel would be perfect for Pheasants. The best Pheasants load i have used in the 16 ga for Pheasant Hunting is the, Fiocchi Golden Pheasant, 2 3/4", #5 Nickel Plated Lead Shot, 1 1/8 ounce. It will hammer them .

Excellent point

I've said it before, Winchester 59s should be illegal for Grouse. Don't fret, it will get some field time.

If it was about staring at the barrel it would be. Since it isn't it's not.

Like I said have never heard from any one experianced! Your reply is pretty funny however seeing I have shot and hunted with a few of the best in the game. Battue isn't a slouch behind a shotgun either but to be fair have never hunted with him. You can write your opinion all day long on sight planes and how they work or don't work. Or your opinion on 24" barrels, (note my post stayed specific to break actions). As Semi and pumps recievers give you that extra lenght so a 24" barrel on a pump or semi is really more inline with 29".

You are correct about the stock adding lenght to the sight picture. But you don't buy into the sight picture propaganda now remember?

Bottomline and any good gunsmith worth a damn will tell you this.
1) The gun must fit the shooter
2) The gun has to balance (this can differ on where the gun balances)
1a) Actually comes before all, is that the shooter must have a solid repeatable mount to get to #1.

Personally I don't find needing a fast handling gun with pheasants. I also don't find an extra inch or maybe even two with a single barrel gun slowing my gun spead down enough for me to worry about. I hunt grouse and woodcock in some pretty thick nasty stuff and use a 30" barreled SxS in 28ga. Ihave yet to ever say damn I wish I had shorter barrels.

When I look down my barrels of any of my shotguns I don't see anything because I remove all the beads. I am looking at my target nothing else. Seeing I shoot mostly sustained lead my barrels are out infront of the bird before I ever have the gun totally mounted. Except on going away shots where I shoot pull thru. Either way my subconscience knows the lead and tells me to pull the trigger. No need to check the barrels, doing so 9 out of 10 times will cost you the bird.

24" Benelli Ultra Light shooter. I like light shotguns and short barrels.

I'm not sure if your statement is directed at clays, but it doesn't hold water for pheasants. I use my bead a lot - that's what happens when you're standing with one foot in a hole and bent over backwards trying to punch a shot through a thick fence row. Most real life pheasant shots aren't some text book, gun fit, sustained lead work of art.

It is the Bird & Dog >> Upland Game forum, the subject was a 16 ga. and pheasants, so clays has nothing to do with it.

A good gunsmith should be able to fix a gun, not tell you how to use it just like an auto mechanic should be able to keep your car running, but need not give you driving tips. No one can arbitrarily say what is going to be best for an individual any more than you can say what jeans are going to fit the best, what pair of boots are most comfortable, or how you like your steak cooked. The person best qualified to tell you what you enjoy the most, what works best for you . . . is you. The individual is the only person qualified to say.

As far as notions of "whippiness" and so forth, that's all in the category of "if you say so." Overswinging pheasants and pass-shooting pheasants isn't the norm: that sounds more like confusing pheasant hunting with a day in the goose pit.

Your right the forum is Upland Game, maybe if you shot more (practice) you wouldn't find pheasant so hard to kill. Clays does translate to upland if you put in the time practicing your shooting will get better weather live birds or clays. Gun mount and swing are very critical parts of shotgunning both on clays and wild birds.

Overswinging????? Care to explain that? Would that be leading the bird to much? Where did that come from?

I have a 16 ga. Citori, and it is my favourite pheasant gun. I use 6's mostly, either 1 oz or 1-1/8oz. 5's would be OK but may not pattern as evenly from the 16 ga. bore. Testing the actual gun and load on paper will tell you what the pattern is like.
For me, barrels shorter than 28" on a Citori would be a handicap. A little too easy to stop the swing. Others may be able to shoot such short barrels well, it would depend on your style and your build. If you could try the gun out that would be ideal, otherwise, buy and sell if not OK, buy and keep if you are happy!

Those #5s penetrate better and break bones better. Dirty Bob Enewold told me about 45 years ago to try 4s as a quail load. He said they produced fewer cripples and made less holes. I tried them, and he was absolutely correct.

I love my Mdl 59 as my chuckar gun. It is light and works...always!

As for the Citori 16ga, I wish I had it, and you had a better one. This little 16 SXS has accounted for a lot of birds over the years. I mostly use 1oz loads, but do sometimes use 1 1/8 ounce #5 ammo late in the season for chuckar. A SXS is more problematic in what loads it likes than an O/U. I think you'll love the Citori.

From valley quail to big blue grouse, the 16 is the ticket.

L2S,, Nice birds, nice shotguns, and a beautiful dog....hope hunting is going great.....

Certainly better than #6 shot, as far as I'm concerned. These birds are from earlier today.

I have a 26" barreled Browning Citori Lightning in 20 ga I shoot it alot better when its cold and I'm wearing heavy stiff clothes. I'd just as soon it had 28" barrels like my Red Label. or 30" like my Magnum Field gd Superposed 12. A 24" o/u would be the same total lgth as a 20-21" pump-auto..BTDT don't need to go there again. 26"barrels on all my other newer pumps and autos, don't need anymore length to them.1 1/8 oz of 5's works good in my 16's. Only have to clean a few late season roosters with full plumage and extra thick layers of yellow body fat with 6's balled in feathers that never penetrated to the vitals to understand that.Doesn't bother me at all this time a year to use copper plated #4 Federal Premiums either.You want that 24" O/u buy it,everybody out there in the arena has to take his own SOB lessons in life. Can't do that for you ,best a luck Magnum Man

I have a 24" Browning Upland Special in 20 ga that works equally well on phez, quail or grouse. I've been toting it since the early 80's. I did purchase a Browning Superlight Feather 16 ga for phez a few years back. I still find myself reaching for the 20 with the shorter tubes most of the time. If it's a meat hunt, I'll pickup the Al48 20 ga w/ a 24" cylinder bore and let the yellow hulls rain. Bottom line, the Citori is an excellent gun for phesants.

Ms. Scarlet died 12/21/2011 from injuries sustained in an altercation with her friend and running mate over a dead gopher the other dog was guarding. A bite to her neck caused too much trauma, and Ms. Scarlet died after her last good fight at the vets. She seemed to rally, but she died of a stroke.